IMAGe Theme of the Year Summer Graduate School on
Mathematics of Climate Change

Goals:
It is generally accepted in the scientific community that the world
is undergoing a significant change in its climate. Mathematical models
play a central role in climate change research. The goal of this summer
graduate workshop is to introduce students to some of the central ideas
and techniques of mathematical climate science and engage them in the
process of uncovering the key mathematical problems of the area. It is
also an opportunity for students to meet peers from diverse backgrounds
in the mathematical sciences and gain experience working as a team
on projects.

Summer School Content

The first week of the workshop will be an organized program of lectures, attendant discussions and computer labs. Themes will be drawn from:

Introduction to climate issues and historical climate data

Basic climate modeling: balance and box models

Modeling climate process and their interactions

Large climate models

Dynamics and stochastics of conceptual models

Mathematical techniques

Prediction and uncertainty

Statistical analysis of data

Data assimilation

During the second week, the school will switch to independent student
research projects, interwoven with organized lectures on supporting
topics. The projects will be computationally based and students will
collaborate in teams and be guided by both early career and senior
researchers. The emphasis of these activities will be on developing
ideas for solving problems that offer insight into the key issues of
climate science. Students will also be mentored in preparing written
reports and presentations of their work.

In addition to the research projects, students, faculty and NCAR
scientists will form working groups to brainstorm on mathematical
challenges in climate science. These working groups will provide an
exciting opportunity for the students to be a part of a high-level
effort to grapple with difficult questions and forge research directions
that promise impact on both mathematical and climate change
research.

Eligibility

Students should be enrolled in a graduate level mathematics or
geoscience program. Students should also have some familiarity with one
of the following mathematical topics: dynamical systems, statistics for
spatial and temporal data, process modeling using differential
equations, applied probability, turbulence or the geoscience topics:
data assimilation, numerical modeling, parameterizations and process
studies. Although one goal of the school is to expose a broad cross
section of students in the mathematical sciences to this
interdisciplinary area, some basic knowledge in one or more of these
areas will make it easier for a student to participate.

It is strongly recommended that students arrange to bring a laptop
that is suitable for some computation along with a high level
programming environment, such as Matlab or R, for data
analysis and computing. Some familiarity with these languages is
recommended but not necessary. There will be limited number of Matlab
licenses available for this school and help downloading and installing R
(Link), which
is free.

Students from the previous summer school at MSRI on math and
climate are not eligible to apply as students but can apply as teaching
assistants. Please write the organizers to indicate this interest.

Application procedure

Funding is available to support attendance with special emphasis given to graduate students and other young researchers. Typically support will include travel to Boulder, lodging and a modest per diem. Students who are not working directly on the workshop topics yet have an interest in the program, are encouraged to apply, as are members of under-represented groups.
There are two ways to apply for the workshop:

If you are unable to secure a nomination through an MSRI
sponsor, please submit the following materials:
A letter of application stating your research interests and indicate whether you wish to be considered
for financial support.If you are a graduate student, please include a brief description of relevant
coursework (or CV) and training and a short letter of recommendation from a faculty advisor.
These can be in the form of a Word or pdf document and should be emailed to toy3@mail.ucar.edu .
Also register your application with NCAR Summer School Application Form .

We expect to support a total of 40 students: 30 through MSRI
nominations and 10 through direct NCAR applications.
Prospective students are encouraged to write the organizers with
questions concerning background knowledge for the school or with the
application procedure.

REGISTRATION IS CLOSED

Notifications will be sent out the first week in April

Organizers

Sponsoring Centers

NCAR:
The National Center for Atmospheric
Research supports scientific research on nearly every aspect of the
atmosphere and related components of the Earth's physical and biological
systems. This includes developing state-of-the- art climate models, high
performance computing and also innovative ways of observing the
atmosphere and oceans. The Center has approximately 1000 staff and is
supported primarily by the National Science Foundation. Part of the
NCAR mission is to engage students in the problems of understanding
climate and weather and so provides an ideal context for this summer
graduate workshop. The workshop is also part a larger program at
NCAR through the Institute for Mathematics Applied to Geosciences:
Mathematicians and Climate.

The IMAGe Theme-of-the-Year (TOY) is a year-long focus on some
aspect of applied mathematics and the geosciences, designed to advance
research and education between the mathematical and the geoscience
communities. Typically TOY sponsors a series of workshops or schools
along with a visitor program, coordinates with NCAR science groups and
partners with other mathematics institutes.

MSRI:
The Mathematical Sciences
Research Institute (MSRI) exists to further mathematical research
through broadly based programs in the mathematical sciences and closely
related activities. From its beginning in 1982 the Institute has
been primarily funded by the NSF with additional support from other
government agencies, private foundations, and academic and corporate
sponsors. Now more than 1500 mathematical scientists visit MSRI each
year, many for substantial periods.

The National Center for Atmospheric Research is
sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
Any opinions, findings and conclusions or
recommendations expressed in this publication
are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.